Bomb-lance



(No Model.)

' .E. PIERCE.

BOMB LANCE.

Patented July 20,v 1886.

VVi/tnasse Invent 07" Eben. 1 area,

Jay

UNlTE States a'rnnr errors,

EBENEZER PIERCE, OF NEYV BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOMB-LANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 345,803, dated July 20. 1836.

Application filed July 18, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, EBENEZER PIERCE, of New Bedford, county of Bristol, State of Mas sachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Bomb-Lances, of which thefollowingdescription, .in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the, drawings representing like parts.

The object of my inventiomwhich relates to bomb-lances-snch as are used for killing whalesis to insure the proper ignition and burning of the fuse, so that the lance will be exploded with certainty at the end of the proper interval of time after leaving the gun, this time being determined by the length of the fuse.

In bomb-lanees as heretofore constructed the explosion of the lance sometimes takes place prematurely, either owing to the ignition of the fuse alongits sides'at some distance from its end, so that instead of burning progressively from end to end it begins to burn at some intermediate point, and the fire reaches the powder before the time required for the proper progressive burning of the entire length of the fuse, or on account of the movement or forcing of the entire fuse bodily forward through the f use-tube into the magazine of the lance, owing to the pressure of the gases on the end of the fuse.

Bomb-lanees as heretofore made sometimes fail to explode on account of improper construction of the means for igniting the fuse. These causes of premature discharge or failure to explode are removed by the present invention, which consists, mainly, in the novel construction of the fuse containing and igniting devices, and their relation to the otherparts of the lance.

Figure 1 is a side elevation ofa bomb-lance embodying this invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinalsection of a lance, showing the invention as applied to alance in which the fuse is ignited by percussion; Fig. 3, a detail showing the hannner or igniting device on alarger scale, and Fig. 4 a partial sectional detail showing the invention as applied to a lance in which the fuse is ignited from the charge of the gun by which the lance is thrown.

The main portion of the lance, comprising the magazine a for the powder, by which the lance is exploded, the point-section b, screwed Serial No. 171,023.

No model.)

into or otherwise attached to the said maga zine, and the tailsection c, screwed into or otherwise attached to the other end of the magazine, and provided with wings or feathers (7, (shown in this instance as of soft rubber,) maybe of any suitable or usual construction. The tail-section c, which may be of cast-iron, and is of smaller diameter than the main portion of the lance and the bore of the gun from whichit is thrown, is enlarged at its forward end,and provided with threads (shown at c) and a shoulder, c",wl1ich engages the end of the magazine-tube when the threaded portion 0 is screwed therein, thus tightly fastening the tail-section to the magazine-tube.

The tail-section c is provided with a chamber, 0, throughout its entire length, of a diameter somewhat larger than that of the fuse e, and has fastened to it at its forward end a fuse tube,f, which is stationary with relation to the other parts of the lance, and extends forward any desired distance into the magazine, so that the charge of powder from the latter is ignited near the middle, in the usual manner. The base or end of the tail-piece 0 remote from the magazine is provided with a. cap, 7, having attached to it a wad or yielding washer, h,which fits tightly the bore of the gun from which thelancc is thrown, and which may be of leather attached to the cap 9 by a rivet, The tail-piece c is eounterbored for ashort distance from the cap g, forming an internal shoulder, c, which engages the igniting device, and prevents it from entering too far into the chamber of the tail-piece.

The igniting device consists of a metallic head or plug, It, which fits loosely in the counterbored portion of the tail-piece, and a tube, It, which fits closely upon the fuse c, extending along the said fuse for a distance of two or three inches, or, preferably, about one-half and exploded, thus I I The tube It confines the fire of the per breakable pin, p, which is brokenby the shoe of shooting the lance 'and permits'the percussiou-cap or primer to with.

. is of sufficient size to accommodatethe 'expension of the'gases from the percussion ca is fastened at its forward end-tot'he tube f, in the usual manner,

nite the powder before substantially its whole length is bu1'ned;and, eveu if it should be forced forward through theltube k, it would except that it has no percussion cap or primer,

may be confined closely between the shoulder c and the cap 9, and the latter provided with a passage, 12, shown as made in the rivet t,

, through which the fire from the'charge passes to the end of the fuse e.

.The construction of the fuse-controlling .de

' vices, comprising an igniting device having a .tube fitting closely upon the fuse for a con siderable-portio'n of its length, anenlarged chamber surrounding the said tube and an 1 intermediate part of the fuse, and a tube fitting closely to the fuse and extending from the enlarged fuse-chamber into the magazine, insures the proper ignition and progressive burning of the fuse from end to end,'and prevents the fuse from being moved bodily into the magazine by affording sufficient space for. the expansion of the burning of the fuse, without, however, in the construction in which the fuse'is ignited by percus'sioinafi'ording a vent to air, and consequently without diminishing the effect of the explosion in the magazine, as is the case'when a vent is provided.

XVhen the fuse is ignited by the charge of the gun, as in the construction shown in Fig.

4, the tube it of .thc igniting device confines be struck by the inner portion of the cap g or'rivet connectedjthere The fuse-chamber c in the tailpiece 0 cannot 'be forced bodily lengthwise through the said tube so as toigfrom its end ing device consisting of gases generated by the the external ,ithe fire'of the fuse andlprotects it, so that it cannot become readily extinguished, as some times happens in lances heretofore made not having such protection to the fuse, when thrown into the water or after penetrating the body of the whale, as when the fuse merely burns in an open'chamber there is danger of water or blood from the whale entering the chamber and extinguishing the fuse-an accident which;cannotv happen when the fuse is grotected by a tribe, as in the' 'present invent 0a., i

I By having the fuse and its igniting device contained within the tail-piece of the lancc theforwa'rd-or point end may be made solid,

affording greater strength thanwhen 'chamheredfto contain an ignitingdevice, and theentire body of the lance may be employed as a magazine to contain a large 'andefi'eetive eharge of explosive material or primer and fuse, 'so that the latter, whic Iclein1 ,t 1 In a bombJa'nce, the combination of the magazine and tail-piececonnected therewith,

having a longitudinal fuse-chamber, with jun ,ignitin g device com prising a tube fittingjclosely upon the fusefor a considerabledis tance where igmition takes place, and

t o e fuse being between the said fuse-tubc'andthe 'tube' of the igniting device, substantially asa fuse-tube extendingfrom the, said .chamber into the magazinea portion of tli uncovered and for the purpose described.

- ,2. The combination of a} magazine jot-1abomb-lance with'artail-piece having a fuse: chamber of larger diameter than the fuse, provided with e iguitiiig device consisting ola plug engaged by the said shoulder, and, a" tube: fitting the an internal shoulder, and an fuse closely for a portion of the length of} the chamber in the tail-piece, substantially. as described.

3. The combination of a'ina gazine ofa bomb-lance with a tailpiece-having a fuse chamber of larger diameter than the fuse and a wad and rivet securing the same to the end of the said fuse-chamber, with an ignita tube fitting closelyon the fuse from its end whereignitio'n takes piace,and havinga longitudinalmovenient in the fuse-chamber, provided with-a percussion cap or primerthat strikes the rivet wl'lich secures the wad in the longitudinal, move-z ment of the igniting device relative to the lance, which takes place when the\.latten is fired, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EBEN; PIERCE; Witnesses:

Jos. P. LLVERMORE, J. J. MALONY. 

